Category Archives: Spoken Word

What’s The Agenda went off with a big festival BOOM, bringing in creative people from all over the city to create, instigate, and talk about art for social change.

“Occupying mac’s Foyle Studio for the duration of the festival, an array of installations and performances awaited those who entered. Haiku poetry, immersive theatre, sculpture, film and visual arts exhibition Side View were just some of the vessels employed here to investigate when art becomes a political act and how creativity can incite positive social change; a mixing pot which lay testament to both the collectives’ broad range of skills and the breadth of mac’s support for the regions diverse creative future.

Drawing in a variety of changemakers throughout the weekend, the final flourish was spoken word event Bare Bones and post-show discussion debate.4.social.change (DB84SC) with Birmingham gems Vanley Burke, Zia Ahmed, Jodi Ann Bickley and Immy Kaur making up the panel. An achievement in itself, the evening not only gave brand spanking new performers a stage and an audience, but created a meaningful discussion with the public about themes raised throughout What’s The Agenda? – loneliness, heritage and gender issues – acting as the exclamation and question mark at the end of a collective statement.”

I’ve been really lucky to have seen some amazing theatre this week. On Thursday night I went down to @AE Harris with Emma to see The Cardinals by Stan’s Cafe. It was a farcical puppet show exploring those forbidden dinner party topics, religion and politics, and I thought I had it pinned, but an almost imperceptibly slow build-up took it from hilarious to shocking. It left us both speechless, and took a while afterwards to think over. The aesthetics were beautiful, with some really stunning images, and it was executed with the amazing precision it takes to create what looks like total chaos.

On Friday, I went to Warwick Arts Centre on my university campus to see Ubu Roi by Cheek by Jowl. It was another farce; the story of tyrannical ruler King Ubu, told in the context of a refined French dinner party. But despite the battles and torture being reenacted with kitchen utensils and lamps, I found myself really engrossed in the story as well as in fits of giggles.

With all this in mind, we began the first rehearsal for Off Print Tales, the project Emma and I are co-directing. We brought together Cannon Hill Collective members and other performers and jumped straight into devising. We’ve got poets, actors, dancers and musicians and are bringing them together to make a storytelling style which incorporates them all. We got together in a beautiful mac studio and asked them to respond to the first part of the story, and we got some amazing material to begin creating the piece with. We had a lot of fun, and the piece is really promising so I’m looking forward to devising with the group. So it’s been a very inspiring and theatrical few days.

If you applied to be part of Cannon Hill Collective with mac, Birmingham, please keep an eye on your email, we will be inviting shortlisted applicants to a recruitment workshop on Friday 28 September from 4 to 6pm.

For mac’s full programme and further opportunities check the IdeasTap partner’s page – mac, Birmingham.

mac birmingham is looking for a group of 20 young people, aged 16 to 24, to be part of mac’s cannon hill collective. You can be from any creative discipline but you must be based in the West Midlands.

As part of the collective, you will come up with new ideas and develop projects from scratch, putting your stamp on mac’s fantastic arts programme.

During six months spent working alongside professionals from the field, you will be introduced to top notch art, have access to mac’s events and artists, and devise original work to share with young people across the region and beyond.

In the process, you will sharpen your project coordination, leadership and teamwork skills and gain confidence in decision-making, boosting your creative abilities.

The collective will run from 1 October 2012 to April 2013, meeting one evening each week (with a break over Christmas) and at additional events as required.

The cannon hill collective is part of the Next Generation strand at mac birmingham, which celebrates work made by, with and for young people, to discover and nurture the Next Generation of creative talent. The cannon hill collective is supported by the Monument Trust and IdeasTap.

Interested? Fill out the application form and tell us why you want to be part of the collective! Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an open interview at mac birmingham on Friday 28 September, 4 to 6pm.

Post navigation

Next Generation

The Cannon Hill Collective offers young people aged 16-24 the chance to engage and connect with mac birmingham’s programme. From initiating, producing and delivering their own projects to advising on mac’s wider young people’s programme.